Refreshing Smoothies for Sweaty Awkward Cuties
by flickawhite
Summary: Kaworu and Shinji go out for smoothies and hold hands way too much.


Shinji Ikari didn't often forget things. The truth is, he didn't have much to forget; his life was simple enough. He went to school, went home, did homework, slept and repeat. If he needed a reminder for something important, he would write it in his agenda or phone.

However, Shinji found himself sitting in his class before the second bell and cursing his bad luck. The night before, he had completely missed his note-to-self to bring money for his field trip the next day.

Shinji sighed, fiddling with the straps on his backpack that was resting beside him. He was startled out of his self-pity when he heard a voice behind him.

"Forgot your money, Shinji?"

Shinji turned around quickly to face his friend Kaworu before looking down and nodding.

Kaworu sat down in the desk to the right of Shinji and stared absently at his friend before adding to the conversation, "Would you like to borrow some money? I brought extra."

Shinji looked up at his friend's forever cheery red eyes, widening his own dark ones before stammering that he couldn't take his friend's money.

Kaworu's smile just grew in size before he laughed out, "It's not like you're stealing from me. I want you to have it. No big deal, Shinji."

Shinji shook his head, ignoring the heat on his cheeks before saying, "I don't have the money at home to pay you back with right now."

Kaworu hummed in response, shortly looking out the window before staring back into his friend's brown eyes, his voice even as he said, "And you really won't let me just give it to you? I don't need to be payed back."

Shinji started to shake his head again until he heard Kaworu continued, "We're friends, right? Friends don't need to worry about owing each other."

The dark-haired boy look into Kaworu's eyes briefly before guiltily looking down at his hands. Shinji didn't have many people in his life who he could call a 'friend' and through the shame, he could feel a swell of happiness at Kaworu's words.

"Yeah… We're friends, Kaworu," Shinji stated, smiling timidly, "but I would hate to take without giving anything back."

Kaworu's grin stuck to his face, not so subtly suggesting, "There's a smoothie place downtown that I've been wanting to go to."

"Right," Shinji felt more heat rise to his cheeks and ears as he let the words slip off his tongue, "I could take you out for a smoothie, then."

A pale right hand found Shinji's clothed thigh while Kaworu's other hand busied itself by giving Shinji a pat on the shoulder. Shinji's skin felt like it was on fire.

"It's a date, then." Kaworu gave the brunet another pat and squeezed his thigh slightly before letting go of Shinji and sitting down properly in his seat when the last bell rang.

Shinji's thigh continued to burn long after Kaworu's hand had left it alone. As he tried his best to remember the steps to prevent death during a heart attack- just in case- he saw Kaworu digging through his school bag in the corner of his eye.

A toonie was placed neatly on Shinji's desk and Kaworu winked when Shinji faced him.

The sun burnt the back of Shinji's neck and a light breeze brushed over his clothed back, bringing with it the promise of cooler days to come. Shinji idly played with his phone before unlocking it and checking for messages for the third time in five minutes.

A yell behind him stole Shinji's attention and he glanced in the general direction of the noise only to be greeted with the very welcome sight of Kaworu's pale features and the rather hilarious scene of his friend darting from shadow to shadow to avoid being burnt from the hot mid-September sun.

Stifling a laugh, Shinji raised his hand in greeting, to which Kaworu responded with a wave of his own.

"There you are!" Shinji smiled when his friend caught up with him, "I texted you. Did you not get them?"

"My battery ran out. Sorry, Shinji," Kaworu replied, already heading over to their destination.

"No, no, it's alright," Shinji jogged to catch up to Kaworu's fast pace.

Silence fell over the two as they rushed to the smoothie shop until Shinji asked, "Are you worried that the shop will be closed by the time we get there?"

"No," Kaworu started, halting when they came to a cross-walk, "I just want to get out of the sun."

Shinji nodded in a movement to his right. He was met with the sight of a pale hand, palm up, reaching for him. He felt the familiar rush of blood to his cheeks and anxiously wiped his hands on his jeans, as discreetly as possible. Shinji raised his eyes to Kaworu's with a questioning and slightly panicked look.

"It's a busy street," Kaworu reasoned but Shinji wasn't convinced his friend was worried about his safety while crossing the street. After all, he wasn't five years old and even then Shinji had been able to take care of himself.

Regardless, Shinji reached forward and grasped Kaworu's warm, slightly damp hand. They headed across the street, hand-in-hand, Shinji, face burning, trailing behind Kaworu. Looking down at their connected hands, a tad slippery from nervous sweating (somehow Shinji wasn't grossed out by this but he didn't dwell on the 'why'), Shinji felt his own heart rate increase tenfold and silently thanked that he had gone over standard procedure to help in the event of a heart attack the night prior.

Horrified, Shinji realized he could feel every movement Kaworu made - at least in his hand- and it only made his blushing problem worse. Shinji had a feeling he wasn't the only one suffering from a red face, judging by Kaworu's hand in Shinji's that was practically radiating heat, the nervous jerk to his movements and his pink ears - which were getting a darker shade of red with every moment that passed them by.

_At least,_ Shinji thought, _we're across the street and not drawing as much attention._

Shinji lost himself while willing his hand to stop sweating (a fruitless effort) and before he knew it, he found himself and Kaworu in front of the fabled smoothie shop. He forced down a bubble of nervous laughter at the realization that Kaworu had held his hand for more than half the trek to the store.

"Well," Shinji attempted speech only for it to come out sounding strangled. He tried again after clearing his throat, "Well, um, I guess we're here?"

Kaworu finally turned to face him, giving Shinji a happy grin as if to distract him from Kaworu's flushed cheeks.

"Yeah! I'll get a table while you get the smoothies, alright?" Kaworu pulled open the door before hurrying into the shop after letting go of Shinji's hand like it burned him. The dark-haired teen would've snorted at his friend's behavior if he hadn't been equally as nervous. He clenched his now empty hand, relishing in the wind cooling the sweat on it, before reaching out to the door handle and following after his pale friend.

Walking quickly to the counter free of a line-up, he ordered a strawberry smoothie for Kaworu and mango for himself mentally crossing his fingers that his friend liked strawberry. After paying the friendly cashier and tucking his wallet away, Shinji made his way, drinks in hand, over to the easily-spotted Kaworu. The boy was sat in a table situated close to the large store window farthest from the door.

"Welcome back," Kaworu smiled, face less flushed than it had been several minutes before. Shinji hoped the blush on his own face wasn't overly apparent either. However, Shinji was painfully aware about the fact that his face was prone to flushing and figured even the act of hoping for a clear face would be fruitless.

"Is strawberry okay?" Shinji set the smoothies, wet and cool from the water condensing on the side of the clear, plastic cup, on the table before seating himself across from Kaworu.

Kaworu hummed happily in affirmation and reached for his smoothie, tilting the large straw his way and taking a testing sip. Stifling a relieved sigh, Shinji mimicked Kaworu and revelled in the fresh taste of the purée'd mango.

"This is super good!" Shinji exclaimed and Kaworu sat back in his chair, laughing softly while Shinji continued, "Thanks for bringing me here, I would never have known about this place otherwise."

Kaworu laughed once more, "Shouldn't I be the one saying 'thank you'?" He leaned forward and casually brushed his fingertips over Shinji''s hand before lowering it to partially cover Shinji's dark skinned hand lying flat against the table with his own ghostly pale skin, "On that note, thank you for paying and coming here with me. I've had a great time."

Shinji debated between pulling his sweating hand back or keeping it under Kaworu's own warm hand. Running the thought from his mind, Shinji focused on not stammering as he finally uttered a reply, "Good. That's good. I mean, so am I."

Shiji inwardly cringed at his lame response and the fact that Kaworu's eyes had crinkled into a smile at the nervous, broken response. The brunet teen quickly yanked his hand back from under his friend's and attempted to play off the action by reaching for his chilled drink. He tried not to notice the mixed look of disappointment, guilt and confusion that made Kaworu's face crumple. Shinji took a gulp of the purée'd mango earning him a wave of brain freeze. Groaning, the brunet pressed the palm of his hand on his forehead as if it would dull the throbbing of the familiar, slightly nostalgic ache.

"Brain freeze?" Kaworu laughed breathily before continuing, "I heard pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth helps."

Shinji hurried to copy Kaworu's instructions and closed his eyes when he felt the pressure in his head fade considerably, "Thanks, Kaworu."

"Even more 'thank you's! No problem, Shinji," Kaworu smiled warmly but made no move to touch Shinji that time around. Shinji felt his stomach tense with guilt, looking down at his hand that had, moments earlier, been hidden underneath Kaworu's thin hand. Disappointment flooded the brunet teen's system, not convinced it was a coincidence that Kaworu had not jumped at the chance to get closer to him right after Shinji had been embarrassed into pulling his hand away.

Shinji inhaled sharply, feeling a heavy blush settle on his face (for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last hour) in anticipation for what he was planning to do, before sneaking the fingers on his right hand underneath Kaworu's own right-handed fingertips. Shinji curled his right hand upwards slightly, softly pressing his thumb against Kaworu's hard knuckles that stuck up prominently. The brunet looked up with eyes that were hopefully apologetic. Seeing as he typically looked like a kicked dog, Shinji was pretty self-assured the feelings got across to his tablemate.

Kaworu smiled and blushed in turn, looking down at the connected fingers but never pulling his hand from Shinji's grasp.

After the overwhelming feeling of relief and giddy dizziness subsided slightly, Shinji self-consciously glanced to the side towards the only other person beside the two teens sitting quietly at the table in the shop, the unoccupied cashier. The worker's eyes flicked away from the pair quickly when Shinji's eyes found theirs. The brunet's gaze fell to the floor and confusion overwhelmed his senses, making his hands sweat and clench and making his gut tighten. Flicking his gaze back in Kaworu's direction, he could read the thin boy's obvious body language like a book. The pale boy was leaning towards Shinji so excessively his chest was pressed against the table, making his shirt bunch with the pressure. Even Kaworu's feet were stretched out to the point that they were touching Shinji's. Every so often a pale, thin hand would find its way to the back of Kaworu's neck. Not to mention, Kaworu hadn't managed to quit smiling ever since Shinji had prompted to hold hands (Shinji submitted to admitting that's exactly what they were doing and the amount of embarrassment when he finally came to terms with the act was potentially fatal). With a rush of blood to his face, Shinji realized he was mimicking Kaworu's posture almost exactly, too. He could see what an onlooker would think if they saw the two boys in the position they were in.

Steeling himself for intense embarrassment, Shinji took in a long breath and then another, "Uh… Kaworu, is this a date?"

The question was met with silence, penetrated only by the sound of the smoothie shop employee shuffling to occupy themself with their phone to escape the awkward conversation and second hand embarrassment. Shinji had, throughout asking the question, kept his eyes focused stubbornly on Kaworu's thumb stroking Shinji's dark-skinned knuckles and now found that Kaworu's digit had halted the comforting motion as soon as the question met the albino's ears. After a number of seconds, Shinji resigned himself to the fact that he would be forced to look up at the boy across from him eventually. His dark brown eyes raised to take in Kaworu's expression.

The look on Kaworu's face that greeted him made Shinji feel as though his heart would beat right out of his chest. The normally pale face had begun to resemble a blotchy tomato, thin lips pressed tightly together to stop a positively enormous grin from spreading across the albino's face. Kaworu's left hand was unconsciously attempting to cool down his heated cheeks by pressing the back of the hand against it. Kaworu's red eyes shifted their gaze to Shinji's and seeing the brunet's face, he let his mouth finally crack into the imminent beaming smile that beautifully adorned his face.

"How much was the smoothie?" Shinji took a second to register the bizarre question that came from Kaworu's grinning mouth.

"Uh… What?" Shinji responded unintelligibly before racking his brain to remember the exact price, "Three dollars, 50 cents, maybe? Why?"

"I owe you a dollar and fifty cents," came the pale teen's response.

"Oh, Kaworu, really, no-"

"So next time, I'm paying."

The smile on Shinji's tan face could have lit up the room. The confusion and distress from earlier faded into joy and a sense of relief and Shinji felt his body relax, using his hand to fiddle with the collar of his shirt and licking his lips before laughing out his answer, "It's a date, then."


End file.
